My friend Jodi professes to be void of even a thread of creativity. So I was thrilled when she sent me this link yesterday. At first I thought she had come upon an undiscovered gem of a project. Digging deeper led me to this post on Apartment Therapy, and the original project on thatwasawhat.blogspot.com.

This is a very clever, practical and green idea; gluing rope around an old tire to create an ottoman, don’t you agree? Here’s the rub, folks. (And I hate to be such a doggone downer, but this point was overlooked in the original post.) Nikki, the creator, had to find or create two round pieces of plywood for the bottom base and the top cap to fill in the center of the tire. The big challenge to making round or oval ottomans is finding or cutting plywood in the right sized curved shape. So, if you have to find two round pieces of wood anyway, you could make a round ottoman without a tire and you could customize the height by cutting 2″ x 4″ pieces at the desired lengths. Stapling cardboard, fabric, or some other material around the sides will close in the gap and then you could cover your ottoman with anything, including, but not limited to, rope.

On the other hand, if you just love the idea of using an old tire and you’re ga ga for a rope ottoman then let ‘er rip! It’s a great, terrific, clever and very brilliantly green idea (except that you have to create the base and cap yourself to fit your tire and that takes power tools and electricity and wood).

For another very customizable Re-Use Ottoman project, check these spool ottomans:

I assume the original plans call for cutting plywood to cover the top and bottom of the tire, securing it with screws or glue, then covering it with rope and screwing on feet. And as Shelly has pointed out, if you have to go through the trouble of cutting a circle out of wood why not just wrap that with a lighter material???? BUT I have another suggestion….. What about drilling some holes in the tires edges and weaving the rope on top kind of like a cane or wicker chair? Saves on the cost and hassle of wood. Dont know how difficult it is to drill through rubber yet… but I think I’m going to give it a whirl. I’ll let you know how it works out. As a *bonus* I think the top of the ottoman/stool will be softer as it will have some give when you sit/on it – AND without the wood – it would be weather proof and would make for better deck furniture. Plywood would eventually rot if left out year after year – just my two (or three) cents